The Office of Sponsored Research in Health-Related Sciences (OSRHS) at Virginia State University (VSU) will provide science faculty and students from minority groups underrepresented in biomedical and behavioral sciences the opportunity to enhance their participation in research and training programs. The project will be directed by the Extramural Associate, Dr. Shobha Sriharan, who participated in the Extramural Associates Summer Institute (1993). The Director of OSRHS will be assisted by a part-time secretary and a student assistant. The proposed Director of OSRHS is assigned to the Office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs to assist in improving the existing procedures in the preparation of grant applications and to prepare a handbook for following federal guidelines and policies. The Dean, School of Agriculture, Science, and Technology, will supervise the Director of OSRHS. An Advisory Committee composed of VSU's science faculty and research administrators will provide guidance to the Director of OSRHS in making all programmatic decisions and will evaluate OSRHS's effectiveness and assess OSRHS's impact on enhancement of other campus minority programs as well as more general institutional improvement. The duties of the Director of OSRHS will include the following: procure grant publications; prepare newsletter, fact sheets; organize workshops on grant application preparation; provide overview of grant applications at the NIH; develop user's Manual on Grants and Contracts Tracking Systems; assisting in policy development on compliance issues, assisting faculty in using Sponsored Programs Information Network- Internet with Library of Medicine, and preparing of Sponsored Research Programs Handbook. During the second and third year of the project, the activities of OSRHS will include sponsoring pilot research projects.